The New Teenage Parent Essay -- Essays Papers

The New Teenage Parent I originally wrote this essay as an assignment for Monique DuFour's class about how we classify different groups of people. I think that the part of the student population that are parents (especially single parents) are often forgotten by the University as a whole. I say this because there are very few, if any, programs that recognize and cater to the needs of parents/students that may need a little extra help, with time or financially. As I revised this essay, I tried to think of ways that I could speak to a larger audience and raise general awareness on this issue. A young man is at a party. He reaches in his pocket for some money, but he smiles to himself and pulls out a pacifier. He's a young single father. A young woman is playing on the lawn with a little boy, tickling him and laughing as he giggles. He's not her little brother. . . he's her son. Even more than being single parents, these are real people and have been or are currently students in college. I naturally feel that what I have to say is important because I am one of these people. I have a two-year old son, Jaymen. I also want you, the reader, to know that we, the young single parents who are a part of the United States, New York State, Syracuse and even closer to home, Syracuse University, are definitely more than statistics. I could tell my story and try to prove that to you, but that would not be a multi-faceted account of what being a single parent is. When I use the term, single parent, I am keeping in mind the literal meaning of single--unmarried. I am not excluding support of the other parent in any situation. When I add the word young to it, I am referring to a male or female whose child was born while they wer... ...ie, which ended in divorce five years later. She went to nursing school part-time, while working various kinds of jobs. She remarried while in school and finished nursing school when she was in her early thirties. Her son, Anthony, has finished high school and is now in the Marines. He's twenty-one now. She's divorced and now working as a traveling nurse. She never had any more children. The list of success stories for young single parents go on and on. Just because a person has made a mistake in the past does not mean that the future has to be a life full of mistakes. The saying, "Life is what you make it," is true. There is a difference, however. The extra incentive to work hard is to look into the big brown eyes of a child that you helped to create and realize that you have to be a good example and teach them to make their lives a little better than yours was. The New Teenage Parent Essay -- Essays Papers The New Teenage Parent I originally wrote this essay as an assignment for Monique DuFour's class about how we classify different groups of people. I think that the part of the student population that are parents (especially single parents) are often forgotten by the University as a whole. I say this because there are very few, if any, programs that recognize and cater to the needs of parents/students that may need a little extra help, with time or financially. As I revised this essay, I tried to think of ways that I could speak to a larger audience and raise general awareness on this issue. A young man is at a party. He reaches in his pocket for some money, but he smiles to himself and pulls out a pacifier. He's a young single father. A young woman is playing on the lawn with a little boy, tickling him and laughing as he giggles. He's not her little brother. . . he's her son. Even more than being single parents, these are real people and have been or are currently students in college. I naturally feel that what I have to say is important because I am one of these people. I have a two-year old son, Jaymen. I also want you, the reader, to know that we, the young single parents who are a part of the United States, New York State, Syracuse and even closer to home, Syracuse University, are definitely more than statistics. I could tell my story and try to prove that to you, but that would not be a multi-faceted account of what being a single parent is. When I use the term, single parent, I am keeping in mind the literal meaning of single--unmarried. I am not excluding support of the other parent in any situation. When I add the word young to it, I am referring to a male or female whose child was born while they wer... ...ie, which ended in divorce five years later. She went to nursing school part-time, while working various kinds of jobs. She remarried while in school and finished nursing school when she was in her early thirties. Her son, Anthony, has finished high school and is now in the Marines. He's twenty-one now. She's divorced and now working as a traveling nurse. She never had any more children. The list of success stories for young single parents go on and on. Just because a person has made a mistake in the past does not mean that the future has to be a life full of mistakes. The saying, "Life is what you make it," is true. There is a difference, however. The extra incentive to work hard is to look into the big brown eyes of a child that you helped to create and realize that you have to be a good example and teach them to make their lives a little better than yours was.